Google I/O 2018: Here are All the Big Announcements of the Event

Google’s developer conference is one of the most awaited events of the year. May someone be a tech lover, gadget freak or even someone not a very big google fan, everyone wants to know Google’s new announcement. Google I/O 2018 conference this year took place just a few days after Microsoft Build 2018 and as expected, introduced the world with various big announcements and new inventions. While kicking off Google I/O 2018 conference, CEO Sundar Pichai recognized the responsibility of the tech industry about the tools and services it creates. It was just the beginning of some big announcements.

Google has made various huge changes to make itself better for the user, from google pixel 2 to AI, google has introduced a lot in past 1 year. AI is the main focus for today’s development era and therefore that was the reason artificial intelligence was also a part of the announcement from Google I/O 2018. The company reoriented itself as an AI enterprise and showed signs of making it better at Google I/O. There were a number of announcements made at the Google I/O conference, may it be Android P or Google i/o duplex. Here is Google I/O 2018 highlights, you wanted to know about.

Assistant gets smarter

It was informed in Google I/O session that Google Assistant will now have six new voices. Users will now be able to select a voice of their choice to make the Assistant sound more like a real person than a machine. To make it sound more like an interaction with a real human, you now don’t need to prompt Assistant with “Hey Google’ every time you want to use it. Once you have prompted it, the conversation will continue normally and Assistant will answer all the follow-up questions without the prompt word time and again.

In addition to this, Google will also bring the Assistant into Smart Displays for better visual information. Users with new screen-devices can also ask Assistant for a recipe and see a Tasty video from Google.

Android P Public Bets

During Google I/O session, it also showcased the refreshed look of Android and introduced the audience to the digital wellbeing Dashboard. Now with the help of new Android Dashboard, you can easily see how you spend your time on your device like the apps you have used or the number of times you unlocked your phone or the number of notifications you received. Not just this, as per the updates and new features, a user can now set time limits for the apps they think are more time to waste. Google announced that users can now access Android P public bets on Google Pixel phones, The Essential Phone, OnePlus phones, Vivo phones, Sony phones, Nokia phones, and Oppo handsets.

Google Duplex

One of the main Google I/O 2018 highlights is Google Duplex. It was a jaw-dropping moment when Sundar Pichai played a recording of Google Assistant calls a hair salon to make an appointment. The objective of playing the recording was to tell the audience that Google Assistant can now book appointments for you without even letting the other person know that they are talking to an AI. Be it the real sound or the response, it completely works as a human.

Making appointments and scheduling the reservation has got really impressive with the announcement of Google Duplex. Not just making the appointments on your behalf, once it is done, Assistant can also add it to your schedule.

Smart Compose in Gmail

Taking Google’s Smart Reply feature to another level, it is now coming up with a Smart Compose idea in Gmail to draft emails for you. With the help of AI, Smart Compose drafts emails from the scratch by itself.

Now some people found the idea of Gmail creating emails without their involvement scary. Talking about this concern, Google said, that you don’t need to worry as the new feature will just make suggestions to complete the sentence you are typing, somewhat like Google smart replywhich predicts your next words for you.. The good thing is that Smart Compose feature will be available to the new Gmail for consumers in the next few weeks.

New term “JOMO”

Better digital interactions are not just a feature of Android P but also a USP of Google. Focusing on ‘Digital Wellbeing’ of the users, Pichai said during the event that it will course through every Google platform. He said that we are working on introducing more tools to analyze user behavior on Google’s platform and new toggles to encourage them to log off. For instance, YouTube may now inform users to take a break when it notices that they are binge video-watching.

He said that now it is the time to move from “FOMO” the fear of missing out to “JOMO” the joy of missing out on wasted time in front of a screen.

Google I/O 2018 – Other Instances

Apart from these major announcements, there were a number of other announcements also. New tools for visual search, update on self-driving cars, augmented reality on maps, smarter news on AI and Hey Google Please Be Nice are some of the other important announcements made at the event. Google also introduced Google Lens expansion to improve offer users a better shopping experience. But it was a mainly a Google Pixel- exclusive feature and it will come to other phones soon.